Will Muir takes rampant Bath back to the top as Sale blown away

Bath on a glowing autumnal afternoon is not an unpleasant place to be unless, these days, you happen to be the opposition. Sale travelled to the South West desperate to prove a point after last weekend’s thrashing by Northampton but were overwhelmed by Bath’s slick, muscular approach in attack and defence.

Johann van Graan’s ever-improving outfit move top, at least until Saracens face Leicester, after the impressive South Africa prop Thomas du Toit created a try and scored another. Will Muir and the captain, Miles Reid, also crossed the whitewash in the first half before Ted Hill, Tom Carr-Smith and Francois van Wyk completed what became another rout for Sale. Will Butt of Bath and Sale’s Nye Thomas were sent off in the second half, both for dangerous tackles, but neither decision impacted the result.

Alex Sanderson made seven changes after the 47-17 humbling at Saints, Tadgh McElroy starting at hooker after signing from Ulster five days ago. The home coach, Van Graan, welcomed Muir back to the wing after injury and made seven changes of his own.

Continuing the symmetry, both clubs lost five players to Steve Borthwick’s England camp, so perhaps both were equally disadvantaged. But crucially the Scotland fly-half, Finn Russell, lined up for the hosts, with Sale were denied the services of George Ford.

Sanderson had said the Sharks were “extremely motivated” to atone for last week’s defeat but their start could not have been worse. Du Toit will soon link up with South Africa for their autumn campaign and displayed his ability with a sumptuous offload to Muir, who romped over the line after 65 seconds in finishing a clever lineout move.

A clever pick-and-go by Guy Pepper took Bath within a couple of metres and Reid bashed over with 20 minutes gone, before Du Toit turned scorer with a cute dummy and speedy finish under the posts. McElroy, the debutant, was left grasping at the Bok’s shadow as he accelerated nonchalantly past.

James Harper, the Sale prop, had coughed up three scrum penalties in the first 15 and was hooked by Sanderson after half an hour, Asher Opoku-Fordjour coming on. Sale stabilised their set-piece but still they trailed 21-6 at half-time, two penalties by their captain Rob du Preez having troubled the scorers.

Bath’s serene progress continued five minutes after half-time when Hill arrowed past more uncharacteristically weak defence from Sale to clinch the bonus point. Butt, the inside centre, was shown a red card by the referee Karl Dickson six minutes later for upending Le Roux Roets near halfway.

The Bath prop, Beno Obano, was replaced by Van Graan after 55 minutes to a grateful ovation after his 150th game for the club, but Sale soon felt they had a sniff. Joe Carpenter’s beautiful grubber to the corner was finished off by a diving Will Addison and Du Preez stroked over an excellent conversion from out wide.

A crucial interception by Muir stopped another dangerous Sale attack and Thomas, a Sale replacement, was dismissed after an upright tackle that resulted in head contact with as the wing Muir dove for the corner.

From the resulting territory some smart work by Orlando Bailey in the opposite corner allowed Tom Carr-Smith to score the fifth try – his first in the Premiership – and decisively end any suggestion of a Sale recovery. Van Wyk crashed over for Bath’s sixth to further deepen Sanderson’s concern at his team’s capitulation. Bath are the real deal, though, and getting better all the time.